Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent marked Columbus Day on Monday by celebrating the explorer’s determination and praising President Donald Trump for pushing back against efforts to remove Columbus from the nation’s historical narrative.

“More than five centuries ago, the son of a wool weaver from Genoa sailed westward to widen the boundaries of the known world,” Bessent wrote on X.

“Across a vast and punishing Atlantic, the voyage exhausted the patience of its crew, but never the conviction of its captain. Christopher Columbus kept going,” he added.

Bessent connected Columbus’ voyage to the spirit of discovery that helped shape the United States, writing, “Two hundred and fifty years after America’s founding, we still marvel at the restless spirit of discovery that revealed the New World to the Old.”

He also credited Trump with defending the explorer’s legacy against efforts by progressive activists to diminish or remove his place in American history.

“President Trump has defended Columbus against the radical left’s campaign to erase his legacy,” Bessent wrote. “Now, Columbus again stands where he belongs — within the great procession of figures who shaped our national story.”

“Happy Columbus Day. Sail On,” he concluded.

Trump marked the holiday with a Columbus Day celebration in the White House East Room, where he highlighted a reconstructed statue of the explorer installed outside the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in March.

The statue recreates a Baltimore monument that protesters toppled and threw into the city’s harbor on July 4, 2020, during a wave of demonstrations targeting historical monuments.

“The radical left communists hate Columbus, and they want to abolish Columbus Day,” Trump said at the event. “They’re still trying very hard.”

Trump vowed to protect Columbus’ place in American history, arguing that efforts to remove the explorer’s monuments reflect a broader attempt to erase the country’s heritage.

“He’s going to be so protected, like nobody’s ever been protected before, because they want to tear down the history and heritage that makes us who we are,” Trump said.

Columbus Day remains a federal holiday, but the explorer has become a target of criticism from activists who point to the violence, disease, and suffering that followed European exploration and colonization of the Americas for Indigenous populations.

Former President Joe Biden issued the first presidential proclamation recognizing Indigenous Peoples’ Day, an alternative observance that emphasizes the histories and experiences of Native Americans. Trump has declined to recognize the observance, instead emphasizing Columbus and his role in American history.

The competing commemorations reflect a continuing national debate over how the country remembers its past, with Trump and members of his administration arguing that Columbus’ historical legacy should not be erased because of modern political opposition.